Technical Field
The present invention relates to an electric wire or cable including a conductor obtained by twisting together aluminum alloy wires.
Background Art
Copper has hitherto been mainly used as a conductor material of electric wires used in automotive wire harnesses and the like. Copper is excellent in terms of tensile strength and electric conductivity as the material, but has a problem of heavy weight (density). Accordingly, with a recent demand for weight reduction, a trend toward reconsideration of the conductor material has appeared. In such a situation, it has been particularly studied to use aluminum.
Aluminum is light in weight, but has a problem of insufficient strength. Further, aluminum also has a problem of low flexibility compared to copper. For example, in the case of low flexibility, there is a concern that it becomes unsuitable to arrange an electric wire or cable in a place where flexing thereof is repeated. Specifically, there is a concern that it becomes unsuitable to arrange the electric wire or cable around a hinge of a door or a trunk in an automobile. The reason for this is that aluminum is broken (wire disconnected) earlier than copper by the repetition of flexing.
Incidentally, in order to solve the above problems of insufficient strength and low flexibility, for example, JP-A-2004-134212 has been proposed.